Success did not come overnight for Nancy Fitch. It came within 60 minutes.
It took all of one hour for her to sell out of kolaches and iced cinnamon rolls when she opened a pop-up at Pearl Farmers Market. A second quick sell-out followed. Then another and another.
The concept, called Dough Baby, was a mere side gig designed to earn extra money. Two years and four months later, Dough Baby now stands as a brick-and-mortar on McCullough Avenue in Olmos Park.
“Many of our market customers have found their way to the store in Olmos Park,” said Fitch, a veteran chef who has worked in kitchens at Biga on the Banks and Rosario’s. “It’s not quite as busy as the farmer’s market but it’s doing very well.”
The shop is open Wednesday through Monday from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m. and is closed on Tuesdays. The farmers market pop-up at Pearl remains open on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m.
The Olmos Park menu includes zucchini bread, quiche, baby cakes, cookies, coffee, tea, and, of course, cinnamon rolls and 11 different kolaches, ranging from the Cubano to the sausage, jalapeño and cheese.
The Italian muffuletta — pepperoni, salami, ham, prosciutto, provolone, olive salad and pistachio cream — is the go-to order for customer Stephen Kinsley.
“The taste is incredible,” he said. “The meats are moist and it has the right mixture of olive in it. The bread is so fresh you could put anything in it and it would be amazing. I get the muffuletta three out of five times. And if I don’t get it, it’s because they’re sold out.”
Kinsley became a regular at Dough Baby after it opened March 2, 2024 at Pearl.
“The bright colors are what drew us to the tent,” he said. “If you are not there early, you probably are not going to get the pick you want. It is literally one of the busiest vendors. There are always 15 to 20 people in line.”
Fitch grew up in a family that moved where her father’s career in oil took them: to England, Paris, Mexico City and the Dominican Republic. She moved to San Antonio in eighth grade and graduated from Churchill High School.
“Dad loved to cook and mom loved to cook,” she said. “We spent a lot of time cooking. That was our entertainment.”
She found work at the original Biga on the Banks on Locust Street, doing salads and appetizers. She moved to desserts at Biga and later became a pastry chef at Bliss and Rosario’s.
Fitch later ran the Peach Cafe in Boerne for 15 years and managed Pearl Farmers Market for eight years. After leaving Pearl, an idea formed. Why not open a pop-up at the farmers market? Friends had said Fitch’s kolaches were the best they’d ever tasted.
A business plan was devised, a commercial kitchen was leased and a pop-up opened.
“The first day, we sold out in one hour in a four hour market,” Fitch said. “I had two little KitchenAid mixers. We just kept growing and growing and building relationships with our customers.”
Elevated flavors from the pop-up drew long lines.
“We use organic flours, grass-fed butter, the highest ingredients,” Fitch said. “People know. They can taste the difference. That’s why they stand in line and wait for us. ‘Are you ready to open?’ And we run out.”
At Olmos Park, the pace is less hectic but the atmosphere remains upbeat, the energy strong.
“I’ve never met a group of people who seem to be happier at their job,” Kinsley said. “They treat everyone unbelievably.”
No one is more surprised by Dough Baby’s evolution from pop-up to brick-and-mortar than Fitch, the always moving, ever-smiling, hustling entrepreneur.
“This is not how I thought the latter part of my life would go,” she said. “I think I wear people out. I can just be on my feet all day. I’ve done it my whole life. It’s work but it’s not work. I have a great time.”
